


Midnight Memories

by Angryniall



Category: One Direction, niall horan - Fandom
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-29
Updated: 2018-09-29
Packaged: 2019-07-20 06:48:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16131878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angryniall/pseuds/Angryniall
Summary: Niall tries to go over his memories from his time as a member of One Direction with his children.





	Midnight Memories

**Author's Note:**

> This is a few years old and originally posted on my tumblr, but I wanted to move all my works over here!

It’s been about fifteen years since the band decided to stop making music, but Niall never forgot the memories he had with his bandmates.

While he was in the band, he made sure to enjoy every moment he was given and every opportunity that he had: even if they were not always for the best. He genuinely enjoyed his time as part of one of the biggest boybands in the world, One Direction. He made sure to document everything: when he would meet one of his idols, he had no qualms about walking up and asking for a picture.

His fans used to laugh about how many “selfies” he took, but Niall didn’t care. Ultimately, he just wanted something to remember his time in the band as.

He’s always been very fond of his memories and, since he’s had kids, he wants them to be able to experience everything that he did. The kids aren’t always up for this. Niall Jr., now on the cusp of puberty, was pulling away from his parents and he hated the thought of being stuck at home flipping through his dad’s old photo album.

His twin daughters, Lily and Rose, both 7, are very much daddy girls and they love the times that they get to listen to their father tell them stories about the good old days.

Niall’s been getting the photo album out less and less. He’s never been one to live in the past, but he still loves all of his old memories. But today is special. it’s the anniversary of the day that him and his bandmates were put together.

it’s a Saturday, so he wakes up early and decides to make some breakfast for his wife and kids. He knows that they don’t really know, or perhaps even really care, that today is such a special day for him, but he wants to make it special regardless.

He cooks up the best meal he knows how and goes to surprise his wife in bed. She’s a nurse and had a late shift the night before, so he doesn’t want to keep her too long. Even though it’s been so many years, she still remembers why today is so important.

Through her sleep-fogged eyes, she smiles and tries to show the enthusiasm her body doesn’t have the energy for as she tells him that she can’t believe that this time so many years ago, Niall was about to have the biggest change of his life.

When she finishes eating, Niall places a kiss on her forehead as she drifts back to sleep. He takes the dishes to the kitchen and puts them in the sink before heating up some food for his kids. He goes to wake them up, gently shaking them as he tells them breakfast is ready.

Lily and Rose are ecstatic and jump into their father’s arms. Niall Jr., as moody as ever, comes in about 10 minutes later. Niall welcomes him with his usual sunny demeanor and hands him a plate.

While they’re eating, Niall just can’t wait to tell them. “Do you guys know what today is?” Niall Jr. rolls his eyes and ignores his father, while Rose asks, “Your birthday?”

Niall would be a bit hurt over the fact that they don’t know when his birthday is, but he just laughs it off. “No, today’s the day that One Direction was formed.”

Niall Jr. groans, “God, we’re going to have to listen to dad’s stories again, aren’t we?”

Niall laughs, “Hey. You’ll miss hearing these stories one day.” He smiles and heads to the living room, pulling his photo album off the shelf. “There’s a lot of good memories in here. A lot of good stories.”

He opens the photo album and flips through, “This is a picture with Obama–one of the presidents of the United States. He was a really nice guy.” Niall flips through more pages, stopping every so often to talk about a story he remembers.

“This is from the time I met The Eagles! Greatest band ever, I’m telling you. Great guys too.” Niall Jr. rolls his eyes, “We all know how much you love the Eagles and we’ve seen that pic a million times!”

Niall’s brows furrow as he tries to find some pictures that he hasn’t shown his kids in a while, “How about David Beckham? Did I ever tell ya about the tim–” Niall Jr. cuts him off, “Yes, we know all about you meeting David Beckham. I could recite it in my sleep.”

Niall sighs. He’s so excited about these memories, but he can tell his son is less than impressed. He flips through more pages of photos, stopping to look at each one. Rose and Lily have climbed on the table and are looking at the pictures.

Lily decides to speak up first. “Daddy, why do you have so many pictures of Uncle Harry, Liam, Louis, and Zayn in here? You saw them all the time!”

Niall smiles and looks at the random collection of photos he decided would best fit this album, “Because I spent so much time with them. They became like my brothers. I knew everything about them and they knew everything about me.” He smiles and flips to the page that he hates looking at: a picture from their last show together as a band, “I think that’s what hurt most when we realized that the busy schedule wasn’t working for us.” He pauses and smiles, remembering the talk they had as a group when Loretta got pregnant and Liam mentioned to the boys that he didn’t think he could leave his wife and child to tour anymore and the rest of us decided that it wouldn’t be a band without him. “The fact that we had spent so much time together and knew each other so much and knowing that it wouldn’t be like that anymore. We would have periods of time where we would end up going weeks without talking and we wouldn’t be there for each other all the time anymore.”

Niall Jr. gets a bit curious, “Was it hard to make that transition?” Niall smiles, glad that he finally got his son interested in his stories. “Honestly? Yeah, it was. I remember the first couple of months, I’d call each of the boys at night and ask them how their day went.” I laugh, “Then after Loretta had little Gloria, I was told I had to stop because I kept waking the baby up.”

He smiles, “But it did get easier… especially after I met your mother. She just filled the gap that the boys left behind.” He flips his book open to one of the last pages to reveal all of the big things in his life since One Direction ended: a picture he took of him and his wife during their first date. Another from when he proposed to her and asked Harry to sneakily take a picture of it for him: half of the picture is blocked by a finger but you can kind of see his wife looking shocked and about to cry. Finally, pictures of his kids’ birth. He has the traditional pictures: his wife holding the newborns, the entire family gathered around the bed. But his favorites are the ones he stupidly took before he really knew how to handle kids. Niall Jr. laid haphazardly in one arm while he takes a selfie of his newborn son and him.

Niall Jr. sees it and can’t help but laugh, “God dad. You were so lame.” Niall laughs, “I’ve grown out of it, right?”

Niall Jr. rolls his eyes. He realizes that the meal is over and puts his dishes in the sink before disappearing back into his room. Niall sighs, and kisses his daughter’s heads. They ask to see his photo album and he lets them flip through all the pages again.

They read until their nap-time and Niall puts them down to rest. He looks through his photo album one last time, going over all of the stories he’s kept in his heart.

His wife wakes up in time to prepare dinner and Niall gives her a kiss on the cheek, “I’m going to head out with the boys. I’ll be back later.” She nods and tell him that she’s got everything under control.

Niall smiles and throws his jacket on before heading to the pub where the boys meet every year to celebrate this anniversary. He walks in and greets all of the guys. He asks how everyone’s kids are doing; all of their different careers.

Everyone orders a couple of pints and just get reacquainted. Unfortunately, since it’s Saturday, it’s also karaoke night at the pub. After a couple of rounds, and listening to some less than stellar renditions of popular songs, Harry speaks up, “What do you guys say? One last hurrah for old times sake?”

All of the boys agree and Harry looks through the catalog and picks the perfect song. “You boys ready?”

They all nod and they sing the song that started it all,

__

I thought, I saw a man brought to life  
He was warm, he came around and he was dignified  
He showed me what it was to cry

Well, you couldn’t be that man I adored  
You don’t seem to know  
Seem to care what your heart is for  
But I don’t know him anymore

There’s nothing where he used to lie  
The conversation has run dry  
That’s what’s going on  
Nothing’s fine, I’m torn

I’m all out of faith  
This is how I feel  
I’m cold and I am shamed  
Lying naked on the floor

Illusion never changed  
Into something real  
I’m wide awake and I can see  
The perfect sky is torn  
You’re a little late, I’m already torn

So I guess the fortune teller’s right  
Should have seen just what was there  
And not some holy light

It crawled beneath my veins  
And now I don’t care, I had no luck  
I don’t miss it all that much  
There’s just so many things  
That I can touch, I’m torn

I’m all out of faith  
This is how I feel  
I’m cold and I am shamed  
Lying naked on the floor

Illusion never changed  
Into something real  
I’m wide awake and I can see  
The perfect sky is torn  
You’re a little late, I’m already torn, torn

There’s nothing where he used to lie  
My inspiration has run dry  
That’s what’s going on  
Nothing’s right, I’m torn

I’m all out of faith  
This is how I feel  
I’m cold and I am shamed  
Lying naked on this floor

Illusion never changed  
Into something real  
I’m wide awake and I can see  
The perfect sky is torn

I’m all out of faith  
This is how I feel  
I’m cold and I’m ashamed  
Bound and broken on the floor  
You’re a little late, I’m already torn, torn


End file.
